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Saturday, January 5, 2013

The following list of crazy, extreme, and/or stupid proposed 2013 Virginia legislation, pretty much all of which is by Teapublicans, is not intended to be complete. Also, in coming days, I'm sure we'll see many more pieces of bad legislation submitted. If you see anything interesting, please post it in the comments section here, or start your own diary. Thanks.P.S. I haven't added any commentary, because I think the craziness and stupidity of these bills stand for themselves.Del. "Sideshow" Bob Marshall (R-13)School boards; employee firearms training. ("Requires every school board in the Commonwealth to designate at least one qualified person for every school in the district who, upon application with the school board, may carry a concealed handgun on school property.")Health insurance; contraception coverage. ("Provides that no individual or group accident and sickness insurance policy, individual or group accident or sickness subscription contract, or health care plan for health care services shall provide coverage for contraception methods, sterilization procedures, abortifacient drugs or devices unless the subscriber or enrollee in the policy, contract, or plan requests such coverage.")Income tax. ("Deconforms Virginia income tax laws from two provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that otherwise would increase the state income tax.")Study; joint subcommittee to study alternative medium of commerce or currency; report. ("Establishes a joint subcommittee to study whether the Commonwealth should adopt an alternate medium of commerce or currency to serve as an alternative to the currency distributed by the Federal Reserve System in the event of a major breakdown of the Federal Reserve System.")

Del. Richard Bell (R-20) and Sen. Richard Black (R-13)Constitutional amendment (first resolution); right to work. ("Provides that any agreement or combination between any employer and any labor union or labor organization whereby persons not members of such union or organization are denied the right to work for the employer...")Del. Mark Cole (R-88) and Sen. Richard Black (R-13)Elections; polling place procedures; voter identification requirements. ("Removes several items from the list of acceptable identification documents that a voter must present when voting at the polls on election day: a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, or paycheck that shows the name and address of the voter.")Del. James LeMunyon (R-67)United States Constitution; amendment. ("Makes application to the United States Congress to call an amendment convention for the purpose of proposing a constitutional amendment that requires a balanced federal budget.")Del. Rick Morris (R-64)Application of foreign law in Virginia courts; domestic relations. ("Provides that if a court, arbitrator, administrative agency, or other adjudicative or enforcement authority bases its decision in a domestic relations matter on foreign law, and such decision violates a person's rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and Constitution of Virginia, then such decision will be void as violative of the public policy of the Commonwealth.")Sen. Charles Carrico (R-40)Substance abuse screening and assessment of public assistance applicants and recipients. ("Requires local departments of social services to screen each Virginia Initiative for Employment Not Welfare (VIEW) program participant to determine whether probable cause exists to believe the participant is engaged in the use of illegal substances.")Electoral College. ("Provides that the Commonwealth's electoral votes shall be allocated by congressional district.")Constitutional amendment (first resolution); freedom of speech. ("Expands the freedom of speech provisions of the Constitution of Virginia to permit prayer and the recognition of religious beliefs, heritage, and traditions on public property, including public school property.") {Also, add Sen. William Stanley (R-20)on this one}Sen. Thomas Garrett (R-22)Nonpublic school students; participation in interscholastic programs. ("Prohibits public schools from joining an organization governing interscholastic programs that does not deem eligible for participation a student who (i) is receiving home instruction...")Funding for certain abortions. ("Repeals the section authorizing the Board of Health to fund abortions for women who meet the financial eligibility criteria of the State Plan for Medical Assistance in cases in which a physician certifies that he believes that the fetus would be born with a gross and totally incapacitating physical deformity or mental deficiency.")Sen. Stephen Martin (R-11)Elimination of the corporate income tax. ("Eliminates the corporate income tax for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2014, by setting the rate of the tax at zero percent.")Sen. Jeffrey McWaters (R-8)Assignment of general fund balance; Transportation Trust Fund. ("Increases from 67 percent to 75 percent the portion of the general fund surplus remaining at the end of each fiscal year that is deposited into the Transportation Trust Fund.")Sen. Bryce Reeves (R-17)Rights of parents. ("Provides that parents have a fundamental right to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their children and such right shall not be infringed by the government unless the governmental interest as applied to the parents is of the highest order and not otherwise served.")

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Welcome to Blue Virginia!

The purpose of Blue Virginia is to cover Virginia politics from a progressive and Democratic perspective. This is a group blog, founded by me (Lowell Feld), but now including several other progressive writers. I can't speak for the other "front pagers," but I consider myself a progressive in the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, JFK, RFK and actually a bunch of progressive Republicans (e.g., Jacob Javits, Lowell Weicker). As such, I believe in expanding opportunities to all, utilizing government as a tool to promote the general welfare and the common good, protecting the environment for ourselves and for future generations, and expanding the rights promised in our Constitution and Bill of Rights to all Americans.

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